Myah Mahayri – Elisabeth Root

Dr. John Snow is the father modern epidemiology and geography of health. During an outbreak of Cholera, Dr. Snow wanted to understand why and how it was spreading.  The speaker talked about the book “The Ghost Map” and how it’s a retelling story on Dr. Snow and his research.

In London, there was a deadly outbreak of Cholera in 1854. People thought that it was caught by the air. Dr. Snow believed that it was spared by microorganisms in water, which we know is true today. People disagreed with Snow because they couldn’t understand that they couldn’t see the germs. The speaker was sure to mention that Dr. Snow wasn’t the one who came up with the Germ theory but helped start it. Snow is known for surveying neighborhoods and tied each point of the map to water wells and deaths caused by Cholera. For example, a workhouse, which had a private well, only had five deaths; Snow said that their water was clean since they didn’t share the well.

I really enjoined when Root talked about breakthroughs in medicine and how culture is in medicine. She also mentioned her work on vaccines.  Root also talked about Landscape genetics and how it brought medicine and geography together. One of her studies dealt with RSV-B over the course 5 years. What she found out is that the outbreak of RSV was caused by people living in the city and once they moved into the rural areas. The RSV would alter itself to be able to survive the rural area, allowing to survive in urban and rural areas; It showed that genes can evolve to survive.

The future of medical Geography has a bright future, thanks to Dr. Snow.

One thought on “Myah Mahayri – Elisabeth Root

  1. It struck me when reading your post, Myah, that what Dr. Anelli said about evolution still being relevant was true when considering the context of Dr. Root’s talk. A virus it expands in an urban population and then burns out due to the immunity its survivors gain. However, it also evolves (mutates) for subsequent rounds of infection. Understanding this process is critical in fighting communicable disease.

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